Tick, Tick, Tick What?
by ThatGuyYouKnew
Summary: Rodney boots up his computer to find a countdown. Panic ensues! Spoilers for "The Shrine"


Disclaimer: I own nothing. But you knew that already didn't you :)

A/N - This is the first story I've ever let _anyone_ read. Please be kind! Thanks!

* * *

Tick, Tick, Tick... _What?_

"Oh, this is not good," Rodney muttered, eyes dancing over the computer screen in panic. "This can not be happening!"

Rodney typed furiously on the keyboard, fingers dancing across it's surface faster than most people could see, trying to stop what was happening. So far, nothing was working. The countdown to the city's destruction was ticking away, one second at a time.

With less than three minutes left, a true and proper panic was setting in. _How did this happen?_ McKay thought to himself. Unable to sleep, he had walked into his lab at 4AM to find it empty, as it usually was this late at night, or early in the morning, depending on who was asked. He turned on his computer and went to check on an experiment he had been running for the past two months. The screen had suddenly flashed through several different programs and then sent a command to overload the ZPM and all of the naquadah generators that were powering the city.

"No, no, no, no, no!" He yelled, his voice getting higher and higher, until he was almost squeaking the mantra. As if it could help him now. He had tried everything. Nothing had worked. Just under two minutes before...

* * *

Three months ago, as a parasite inched it's way through his brain, destroying who he was, he had told Doctor Keller that he loved her. That he had for a long time now, but she hadn't said anything in return. Not even a 'Sorry, I don't think of you that way'. Even that would have been better than silence, at least then he would know one way or the other. And now that it was over, neither of them had brought it up. He thought she had probably attributed him saying it to the parasite in his brain and that he didn't remember it after having the creature removed in a damp, dismal cave behind a waterfall... with a hand drill.

* * *

A little more than a minute. Might as well tell her it hadn't been the parasite talking, not in the slightest. It may have been one of the last things he had said as himself, but he _knew_ he was still himself when he said it. He raised his hand to the comm in his ear, tapping it to get Jennifer's private frequency. He may have less than a minute left, but he surely wasn't going to broadcast this to everyone who happened to have a comm in their ear at the moment. He hoped she wasn't asleep or otherwise away from her headset.

"McKay to Keller," He said quickly, tapping his foot against the leg of his chair impatiently, eyes flicking back and forth between the computer monitor to a picture of him and Jennifer on Earth, shortly before the conference he had taken her to, their first real date. It hadn't gone all that well, with her almost dying and all. That was just a few weeks ago. He let out the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding when she answered just a few seconds later.

"What is it Rodney?" She asked sweetly, unaware of the city's apparently imminent destruction.

"I-I-I-I just wanted to tell you, while I still could, I mean, not that I couldn't before, it just never seemed like the right time to say..." He took a long, deep breath and tried to steady his nerves for what he was about to say.

"I remember what I said. Back then. When I had that thing in my head." His eyes stared at the timer on his screen. "I meant it. Every word. It wasn't the parasite talking and I meant it. I just wanted you to know," he blurted out quickly, trying to beat the clock and get everything out before he lost his nerve.

Ten seconds left. Nine... Eight...

"Rodney-" Jennifer started. He heard her sigh on the other end of his comm.

"Jennifer, I really do love you," he said, just as the timer reached zero.

And nothing happened.

Rodney McKay stared at the screen in confusion. _What the hell? _ He thought to himself. _What is going on?_ He didn't have to wait long for an answer. The screen blacked out for a second, and then a video of Sheppard popped up on the screen, startling him.

John was standing there with a wide smirk on his face. "McKay," he started, startling the physicist once again. "I hope you used these last few moments to really evaluate what's important to you. Things like family, friends, and_ loved ones_." John's smirk grew even wider, threatening to spread right off his face. "Because if this didn't cause you to tell Keller what we both know, then I might have to lock the two of you in a room together until you do."

Rodney McKay stared in disbelief at the monitor.

* * *

Sheppard, Radek, Keller, Tayla and Ronon were sitting in the mess hall when Jennifer got a call on her comm unit.

"What is it Rodney?" She asked, a delicate smile forming on her face. She listened for a second before her eyes went wide with shock and her mouth fell open, surprise replacing her smile rather quickly.

"Rodney-" She began. She didn't know what to say. What had brought on this sudden confession? She sighed in confusion, trying to figure out what was going on and what had to be happening to him to get him to say all this.

Everyone else at the table was looking at her with mild curiosity, wondering what had caused such a drastic change in her mood so quickly. Well, almost everyone. Sheppard and Radek were trying not to laugh into their drinks, both hiding their grins behind coffee cups.

They completely lost their composure and broke down into a fit of laughter when the next thing to come over the comms, on an open channel no less, was Rodney screaming, "John, you are a dead man!"


End file.
